Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-08
AN ANSWER.
Mack enzie Comes Back at Audi
tor NIOntanO.

|
tor Montana.
| To the Honorable Board of Supervisors o
Los angeles County, Cal
GENTLEMEN-Inasmuch as you have per
mitted Mr.. Montana to appear before yot
and make a statement refuting various char
ges which made to the grand jury concern
ing his office, claim the same right to bt
heard before your honorable body. The
charges l made against Mr.. Montana before
| the Grand Jury did not reflect upon himself
as man, nor upon his family, but simply
upon him as a county official AS to the
| manner in which he has for the past two
years kept the county books, the facts and
were substantiated. The action of the Grand
Jury, endorsing. and accepting my report
shows that conclusively.
| Mr.. Montana lays great stress upon the
| fact that l did not indict Mr.. Dunsmoor,
County Clerk, for having made several err
rors, which, pro and con, only aggregated
the sum of one dollar. l treated Mr.. buns
| moor with the same courtesy as | have treat
| ed every county official whose books / have
had to examine for the past three years or
more.
Cases are different. In fact all of the
| county officials who have made clerical er-
rors were glad to correct them when brought
| to their notice, and thanked me for calling
their attention to the same. But Mr.. Mon
| tafio was SO arrogant and so defiant that
concluded would go upon still hunt. Mr.
Mason, your County Assessor, will testify
that although he and Mr.. Montana and had
| an engagement to meet at Mr.. Montaflo's
office on a certain Sunday, so as
to verify Mr.. Mason's work as far
and the sums collected by Mr.. Mason for
poll taxes, the stubs and unused receipts
being in Mr.. Montafios Office. Mr.. Mon
tafio's was not in his office, as agreed upon,
and Mr.; Mason, after waiting long time,
left in disgust.
By competent authority can prove that
Mr.. Montana had not been present in his
office for some days, neither was he, as he
claims, out of town; but, as claim, he was
in the city, attending to and glorying in the
fact that he was making money in real
estate l can furnish to you satisfactory
proof that last fall he employed friends of
his as night deputies, who, instead of work
ing, as they should have done, from 5 or
to IL O'Clock at night, worked only two
hours, or three at the most and yet Mr.
Montafio, as his deputies will tell you, GER
tilted to the fact that those men had worked
full time, and they received their pay for
the same. Mr.. Blackman says that in the
new book of Mr.. Montafio he could not find
any trace of my check marks. | would ask
of him where any of his private check
marks in any book that he has pretended to
expert appears. Mr.. Montana goes on to say
that he could not hold me. The case is re-
versed. He would not stay with me. He
always had some excuse to make. Some
times, "My wife is waiting for me-" another
time, Lodge business" and finally,
when l cornered him, he got mad and
said it was his vacation time, and he
wanted to start on his hunting trip. l told
him there and then that he could not and
ought not to go until the Grand Jury had
adjourned. He has been for a long time
spending his TIME upon the streets, leaving
his business to his deputies Query? Who
are they? Mrs. A. Montana, Ia far better
than he is mani and Mr. Tautprin
Yet he states that business is so pressing that
he must employ book-keeper, who he him
self says was incompetent.
During the session of the Grand Jury Mr..
Martin, of Pomona, one of the Board of Su-
pervisOrs of the county asked me to look
into the road matters, particularly as to
San Jose. / did so. and found that certain
amounts which should have been charged to
San Juan had been charged to San Jose.
Since that time this, among other errors,
have been corrected by Montana, and could
not be found by Mr.. Blackman. 1 asked
recens and The road noax recebs
said no. Now, l should like to know what
he did expert. He simply took, as l say,
fOotings as correct.
Politically, he cannot hurt me, as never
ran for Office in my life. and do not expect
to ever run for office. Financially, he cannot
do So The statement which was apparently
made by Mr.. Decker, Public Administrator,
in the various papers, corroborating the
were made by Mr.. Montana himself, or at
his instigation. l never saw Mr.. Decker in
my life, and could not get his books except
after making formal demands for the same
by the Grand Jury. Mr.. Willis, his attorney,
then handed me one book only, and exam
ined the same in my office, 134 North Main
street This was on July Is. 1887. And
after seeing Mr. Willis and stating that the
money should be placed in the County
Treasury, he said he would see Mr.. Decker.
On the 10th of July the money was SO
placed. l reiterate that / had never seen,
and to this day have never seen Mr.. Decker,
and such conversation between Decker and
myself never took place.
| would cite you to section 1920 of the
Political Code, which he has not complied
with,
would also cite you to section 4217, of
the Political Code, under which he is com
PEELED to fulfill certain duties, but which du-
ties he never has fulfilled.
Far better for your honorable board to al |
low the unpaid salaries of the deputies of
eX-County Tax-COllector Hammond than |
waste the money of the county upon ex-
perts who undertake to re-expert work for |
which the county has paid, and said re,ex-
9fst nans Of out 2f dens p9sso' 5s se1
the Grand Jury has accepted the report of |
their expert, it seems to me that it is a waste |
of the peoples money to have the work re-
exported, the Grand Jury being the power
Of the land, and ahead of and superior to
the Board of Supervisors. The members of |
the past Grand Jury assured me that if Mr..
Montana did not stop his personal attacks |
upon me that they will take care of him.
And if Montana persists in his personal at
tacks, will publish a story of his life which
will condemn him in the eyes of every |
right-thinking man.
With all due respect to your honorable |
body, remain
Yours respectfully,